Holbrook fatal crash victim remembered as 'unbelievably nice guy'

Robert Ball, 55, of Holbrook was killed Sunday afternoon after he was severely injured in a head-on crash on Route 37 in Holbrook.

Benjamin Paulin The Patriot Ledger @BPaulin_Ledger

HOLBROOK – Robert Ball is remembered by one family member as an “unbelievably nice guy” who loved his car and kept a positive outlook despite battling a kidney disease for most of his adult life.

Ball, 55, of Holbrook was killed Sunday afternoon after he was injured in a head-on crash on Route 37 in Holbrook. He was flown to Tuft’s Medical Center in Boston where he died of his injuries that night.

Richard Vartanian said Ball was one of the nicest people he’s ever met. Vartanian is Ball’s cousin by marriage.

“He was an unbelievably nice guy,” Vartanian, 53, of Braintree said. “I never met a person who didn’t like him.”

Ball suffered from a kidney disease called Alport syndrome, which damages blood vessels in the kidneys.

Vartanian said the disorder is hereditary and that Ball had been diagnosed when he was in his 20s.

“He’s been hanging in there for years. Doctors had written him off years ago,” Vartanian said. “He was fighting and fighting. He was going to dialysis every day.”

One thing Vartanian recalled was his outlook on life despite his condition.

“If you talked to the guy you’d never know he was that sick. He would make you laugh and tell stories,” he said.

One of Ball’s passions was working on his car, a 1970 blue Oldsmobile 442. Ball was driving the car with his sister and another relative inside when the crash happened Sunday.

“He loved cars,” Vartanian said.

Ball was married and had a daughter and two sons. The news of his death has hit the family hard, Vartanian said.

“It’s just horrible. They never expected it to end like this,” he said.

Ball’s sister and a 60-year-old woman and her 54-year-old husband in a Honda Civic were all taken to area hospitals.

Vartarian said Ball’s sister had some teeth knocked out during the accident. The married couple also suffered serious but non-life-threatening injuries.